[Microsoft Q3 Earnings Report: Revenue Up 19% Year-over-Year, Exceeding Market Expectations; Azure Cloud Business Grows 48%] BlockBeats reports that on October 29th, Microsoft released its earnings report for the third quarter of 2026 (ending September 30th) in the early hours of today Beijing time. The company's revenue for the quarter was $92.3 billion, a 19% year-over-year increase, exceeding Wall Street expectations; adjusted earnings per share were $4.89, also exceeding market expectations. Net income, on a GAAP basis, increased by 32% year-over-year to $36.6 billion, and operating profit increased by 21% year-over-year to $45.9 billion. Overall performance exceeded expectations. Cloud business was the core growth engine this quarter. Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $63.9 billion, a 30% year-over-year increase. Azure cloud platform revenue was $33.17 billion, a 48% year-over-year increase; this is the first time the company has disclosed Azure revenue in absolute terms. The Agents and Infra segment (covering Azure, Microsoft 365 Business, and server products) generated $76.8 billion in revenue, a 25% year-over-year increase, accounting for approximately 83% of total revenue. The Devices and Consumer segment generated $15.5 billion in revenue, a 3% year-over-year decrease. Commercial residual fulfillment obligations (RPO) increased by 73% to $677 billion, providing support for future revenue. Microsoft 365 Business Cloud revenue grew by approximately 17% to 18%, while search and advertising revenue (excluding traffic acquisition costs) increased by 12% year-over-year. Consumer and device-related businesses performed relatively weakly, with a significant decline in Windows OEM and device revenue, and a slight decrease in Xbox content and services revenue. Profitability remained robust. Operating profit margins remained high, and core business operations were efficient. The company continued to invest in capital expenditures to support AI and cloud infrastructure, with quarterly capital expenditures of approximately $45.2 billion, lower than some market expectations. Free cash flow, while declining year-over-year, remained positive. The company provided revenue guidance of $96 billion to $97.1 billion for the next quarter, also exceeding analysts' expectations, and anticipates Azure growth to further increase to 49% to 50%. Following the earnings release, Microsoft's stock price rose approximately 4% in after-hours trading. The market believes that the company's ability to achieve revenue and profit exceeding expectations despite significant AI investment, coupled with accelerated growth in its cloud business, has alleviated market concerns about the return on capital expenditures of tech giants. Overall, Microsoft continued its strong momentum in the cloud business this quarter, with Azure growth being particularly outstanding. The results comprehensively exceeded market expectations, demonstrating that AI and cloud investments have now translated into relatively clear revenue growth.